Resourcefulness: The budgeter's friend

scandimore

Hope you feel better soon foxgloves 

ladyholly

Look after yourself and take it very easy.  Jobs will still be there when you feel better.

Sun_Addict

It sounds dire, hope you’re feeling better soon. Lots of rest, feet up with your book needed. 

thriftmonster

Take care Foxgloves -hope you start to feel a bit better and don't do too much too soon

foxgloves

Thanks all. I did have a better night's sleep & could just very faintly smell my perfume when I sprayed it this morning.
Have made what use we could from the free electricity hour this morning, but have mainly been at my desk catching up with admin & concluding October's budget, which much like Schubert's 9th symphony was unfinished. Time wasted on online chat to CC provider as their instructions (following changing their bank account) for setting up as new Bacs payee didn't work. At least my snarky question to the useless AI assistant did get me tranaferred pretty swiftly to an actual person. Think it is sorted out now but won't be transferring further funds until I can see that the small test payment I sent today has arrived in my account.
It will be good to get October's budget finally finished. The delay was not knowing the final gas servicing invoice because of the delay on the replacement part. He wss more than fair. We were charged the usual amount fir servicing 2 appliances plus the cost of the new part. He did not charge us for his return visit to fit it, which wss very good of him.
That felt like a small win, then another one was £25 from Ernie. 
Tomorrow, Mr F is off work & would like to take me to our fave cafe in town for breakfast. It would be so lovely to go out but I will see how I feel when I get up. 
Well m'dears, I have healing cheese on toast to eat, so shall say bye for now,
F x

Makingabobor2

So glad you are starting to feel a bit better.  I had my flu jab yesterday and wok up to day feeling decidedly "fluey" with a really achy arm.  Took 2 paracetamol and a walk to the local C00p to try and blow it away and think I feel a bit more perky now. Normally the flu jab doesn't affect me, so wonder if its something stronger this year, or just an added ingredient that doesn't agree with me. 
Hope you continue to improve. x

foxgloves

@Makingabobor2 - Thanks for the flu jab reminder. That job was in my sights until I went down with this damned covid. Mr F is a frontline profession so he has a voucher for a free one. Flu is so vile I don't at all mind paying for mine every year. We can usually manage to book the same morning so we can do some shopping & get a coffee too. I've never had a reaction from the flu jabs apart from the sore arm so it was interesting to hear you seem to have had one this time. I do hope it is just a side effect & you haven't been huffed on by some coviddy herbert like I was.
F

foxgloves

Right, that's October's budget finally finished. I've been over the maths now that it is complete & it all looks fine. I have been able to pay the gas engineer's invoice from the normal budget, rather than taking money from the House & Garden Pot. I know that's what the Pots are there for, but I'm sure we also all agree that it is nice to be able to leave them untouched when we are able to do so. I decided on a buffer zone of £250 this month & in addition to our general savings (Regular Saver account, Car Fund & Premium Bonds), I've also paid 5 of our Savings Pots - Clothes, House & Garden, Meow Fund, Dentist/Medical/Optician & a teensy bit for the Leisure & entertainment pot. The reason that the other 5 Savings Pots didn't receive any extras this month is because they are currently 'full' to the amounts we jointly agreed for each of them this year. While these amounts are quite flexible & I will add additional funds if I think it is necessary, I like to have these notional 'max' figures as it puts a stop to overthinking 'Is this enough?', 'What if this happened, or such & such broke' etc, thus turning the savings pots into potential bottomless pits......which of course they are in many ways, but you know what I mean!
Also cleared a few emails, did 2 surveys & entered 2 competitions.
I'm wilting now & it occurred to me that this is the first day since I was struck down by covid that I haven't taken any cold & flu caplets or paracetamol, so while I can obviously perk myself up a bit by taking a dose of either of these, it has also shown me what I feel like without them......which is that I have improved but still feel what I'd describe as sort of 'grottily pathetic'. 
It's Mr F's cooking night - he's doing roast pork & I will certainly be getting further meals from that. Oh, yes, roast pork....& thereby hangs a tale. I was feeling far too poorly for grocery shopping last week so Mr F set off with the list which involved our local market butcher for a brisket (for the beef carbonnade I slow cooked yesterday) & a pork roasting joint. I told him NOT to be tempted by (the excellent price on) whole pork loins as there is no way we would be able to fit one in the freezer. He agreed. When he got back, I could hear lots of scrapy sort of ice noises & the desperate sounds of someone trying to rearrange a freezer very quickly. I said, "You haven't bought one of those bargain whole pork loins have you?". There was a brief silence before he said, "I may have bought one by accident, I'm not sure". He brought it in (slung over his shoulder like a mammoth!) to show me & it was clearly a whole loin. Apparently he was just choosing a standard sized roasting joint when the butcher pointed out that the whole loins were very much better value (which is true) so he cave(manne)d in & bought one. There was nothing remotely 'accidental' about it! He cut it into 3 large roasting joints, one to go in the oven today & the others....well, let's just say he spent an awful long time on his knees in front of the freezers moving endless containers around in one almighty game of tetris, but he DID fit them in! We have had a quick word about the grocery budget today & we decided we really do need to compile an October master meal plan so as to prioritise using up freezer stores. I also threw in a little festive doom-mongering that there won't be any point in me baking sausage rolls if there is no freezer space for them. Now Mr F is highly motivated by a sausage roll & instantly proposed that we write the master meal plan tomorrow! 
Today's garden pickings: Carrots, cavolo nero & french beans.
Right, I am heading for the sofa with today's paper & my knitting. Maybe I'll have improved by tomorrow. I hope so. I always think a week of these things is quite enough & am always disappointed when they drag on.
Hope everyone else is staying lergy free.
F xx

rtandon27

@foxgloves - motivated by your freezer tale, I've just rejigged our grocery order and removed anything meat realated!  We have more than enough stocks in the choc-o-bloc freezer and after this evening's cooked roast & veg we will have enough leftovers for at least one more meal if not two!  Tomorrow's dinner will also do us one or two more meals so we are pretty much set for the week! Only fruit and veg required this week as well as regular top-ups such as coffee, butter, bread, & loo-roll.

Sun_Addict

You’re sounding a lot better so long may that continue. LOL to Mr F accidentally buying the pork loin - as you do 🤣